Share this page

Charles Jeffrey S/S 19 by Florian Eymann

Georgina Evans reports on the Charles Jeffrey show

by Georgina Evans on 12 June 2018.

Puritanical met the grotesque with statement jumpers, intricate knitwear, knockout suiting locked with a now archetypal Jeffrey safety pin and uber thick rolled hems on neck and sleeves. This was Jeffrey’s best yet, it’s infinity and beyond for this LOVERBOY.

Are you ok, Charles Jeffrey? In the lead up to Jeffrey’s S/S 19 show, entitled 'Emergence', his social media had been haywire. Images of spaceships peering behind the clouds, lightning flashes, Japanese emergency news announcements and glitchy visuals showed Jeffrey on the verge of an intergalactic invasion.

Walking onto Gary Card’s set, the extra-terrestrial ambience was indisputable. Globular tin foil forms were interspersed, each connected with umbilical cords connected to slumped characters who only came to life with music (a live choir!) or a demanding HAL-like voice. The forms danced and convulsed as models took their stride. What followed was a new Jeffrey, a slightly more commercial and altogether succinct offering. If breaking free from the shackles of your online self is what it takes to create these brilliant pieces - everyone throw away your phones now! All aboard the space voyage to Jeffrey’s excitingly refreshing S/S 19 collection.

The first look was quite simply, sublime. In a sea of sportswear, particularly when it’s a genre you’ve not yet dabbled in, you have to create something truly new and unique to stand out from the crowd. This was it. It was a puffball jacket of sorts, paired with a trim trouser with illustrative piping and a signature statement Jeffrey shoe. Divine.

One looked at the tin foil accents as a backdrop to this piece and felt a little defeated. Of course, it is Jeffrey’s signature to cut and paste, to bring the fun, the creative, the energetically home-made, but such a predictable 'spacey' foil next to such wonderfully strong garments felt a little like ketchup with fillet steak. However, Sputnik-like headpieces which popped glitter with a punch provided the charismatic Charles-Jeffrey-does-outer-space I had been looking for.

Puritanical met the grotesque with statement jumpers, intricate knitwear, knockout suiting locked with a now archetypal Jeffrey safety pin and uber thick rolled hems on neck and sleeves. This was Jeffrey’s best yet, it’s infinity and beyond for this LOVERBOY.